Mattauch v. Walsh Bros.

• Decision Date: 18 November 1907
• Citation: Mattauch v. Walsh Bros., 136 Iowa 225, 113 N.W. 818 (Iowa 1907)
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court
• Parties: MATTAUCH v. WALSH BROS. & MILLER ET AL.

136 Iowa 225

113 N.W. 818

MATTAUCH

v.WALSH BROS. & MILLER ET AL.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Nov. 18, 1907.

Appeal from District Court, Polk County; Hugh Brennan, Judge.

Action for damages caused by deceit alleged to have been practiced on plaintiff resulted in a directed verdict for defendants. The plaintiff appeals. Reversed.Allen & Lingenfelter, for appellant.

Sullivan & Sullivan, for appellees.

LADD, J.

The plaintiff exchanged a stock of millinery of the estimated value of $2,000 to one Bannister for 80 acres of land near Cooper at $60 per acre. Deceit with respect to the value and character of the land is alleged, and the evidence such that this issue should have been submitted to the jury. The plaintiff testified that some time previous to the transaction she had said to Benkert that she would sell the stock if she could get a good price; that Benkert replied that he would get a deal; that later, when she had been purchasing goods in Des Moines and was about to take the train for Earlham, Benkert and Walsh met her at the depot, and the latter informed her that they had been over to see her stock, and that he had a fine deal for her; that the land he proposed to exchange was all tillable, with 40 acres under cultivation, and had certain buildings on it; that he had been over every foot of it, as he had a farm nearby, and that he knew it was worth $60 per acre; that she told him she knew nothing about land and would like to wait until her husband returned, to which Walsh replied: “It is a fine thing, and the land is worth $60 per acre, and do not, on any account, let it slip.” At this time a mutual acquaintance came up, and, upon being informed of the negotiations, cautioned Walsh not to take advantage of the lady, when Walsh assured him of the value of the land, and that she was getting a fine deal. Thereupon plaintiff decided to stay over and examine the land the next day, and telephoned her sister-in-law at Van Meter to accompany her. They went to the depot in the morning, and while waiting for the train to go to Cooper in came Benkert and Walsh, who invited them to another part of the room to talk over the affair. Here it developed that she and Walsh belonged to the same church, and they talked until it was found the train had gone. Walsh then assured her that she could trust him; that the land was worth what he said; that in looking at it she would occasion an expense without benefit; that he was an Irish Catholic like herself, and would not cheat her; that the deal would wait no longer, and she had better take advantage of it. They then went to defendants' office, and after some conversation with the owner and Miller, who assured her she could rely upon Walsh and another, the deal was consummated. Plaintiff was corroborated in her account of the transaction in the morning by the...